Lindsay Delagair - Unforgivable

“Yes it is, but why the Sam-hell are all you boys practically naked?” she scoffed.

“Would it be okay if I used your shower, Miss Naomi?” I asked. I was ready to hit the bed, but I really wanted a chance to clean up first.

“Of course you can, honey, but I have to warn you we only have the one bathroom in the house so I can’t promise that these knuckle heads left it in decent shape.”

“That’s okay,” I replied, but inwardly I knew we’d have to find a place to stay real soon, because I loathed the idea of showering behind that many people.

“You can come out shirtless, too!” Andy yelled as I headed down the hallway. I heard the loud smack as he yowled, “Ouch, Momma! What did you hit me for?”

I smiled.

The bathroom was fairly small, but the troops had been decent about not leaving it nasty. I grabbed my shampoo and soap and stepped under the running water. It had been a long day and I was hoping I could fall asleep tonight without Ryan’s assistance. I was grateful he helped me last night, but surely I could manage tonight by myself.

I toweled off and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top and went back to the cramped bedroom. There was one queen-sized bed and the small twin they brought up from the garage. I decided Ryan wouldn’t fit so well on the twin, so I took it and left the larger bed for him. I could still hear the guys in the living room, laughing, talking and reminiscing.

I drifted off, but within an hour, my eyes were open. I grabbed an extra pillow off the large bed and tried wedging it behind me for a stand-in, but it wasn’t warm and there was no strong arm to slip around my waist. I heard Ryan coming down the hallway as he told everyone good night. He came into the dark room quietly, the only light being the red display on the clock and a seashell night light on the other side of the queen bed.

“Leese,” he whispered.

I tried faking sleep so he wouldn’t know I was struggling with it again, and then I tried not to crack a smile as he began to talk to himself. He was speaking lower than a whisper, but I could still hear him.

“This isn’t going to do,” he said. “She should be in the big bed, not me. If she wakes up, how am I going to fit on that little bed with her? All right, baby girl, let’s see if I can move you without waking you.”

I was ready to roll over and tell him I was awake, but his arms were already under me as I began to turn toward him. I guess he assumed he woke me.

“Shhh,” he breathed softly, “Go back to sleep, I’m just moving you to the other bed.”

There was no opportunity to argue with him as he had already lifted me. He turned to the other bed and realized there was a problem as my head was now pointed at the foot of the bed.

“Put me down,” I whispered. He was still shirtless and I was finding it unsettling to have my hands against his bare skin.

“Can you go back to sleep?” he asked as he put my feet on the floor.

“Sure,” I lied. I wasn’t prepared to argue the issues of who should be in which bed. I immediately felt a big difference between the thick pillow top queen mattress and the thin, uncomfortable twin that Ryan was now settling onto. “That bed isn’t very comfortable; sleep up here, but you don’t need to hold me.”

I didn’t have to ask twice as he rose and pulled back the covers, stretched out and sighed, “Much better. Good-night, Leese.”

“Good-night.”

I lay on my side watching the bedside clock tick by.

“You aren’t asleep, are you?” came a whisper in the dark.

I thought about ignoring him, but I finally whispered back, “No.”

His body came up behind me, warmth flooded my skin and his tattooed arm wrapped around my waist. I didn’t expect the kiss on my neck that sent shivers through me.

“Get some sleep.”

I really needed to be asleep before he attempted to replace Micah. It seemed though he found sleeping with me to be relaxing enough that he drifted off and within fifteen minutes, I could hear his deep, steady breathing, just short of trying to snore.

I laid there and wondered if Micah was sleeping right now? I cried silently. My heart ached to hear his voice, to feel his touch, and to taste his lips against my own. I was ashamed to be lying here in Ryan’s arms, knowing I wanted to roll over and let him have his first experience with a woman, but I couldn’t make that fatal mistake. It wouldn’t prove fatal to my physical body, but my heart and soul wouldn’t recover from the betrayal. Somewhere around four in the morning, I managed to fall asleep and, once asleep, I was comfortable and safe in Micah’s arms.

There was a knock at the bedroom door around eight in the morning as Naomi’s voice came through saying that breakfast was ready. It scared me bad enough that I jerked upright in the bed, almost pulling Ryan with me.

“Yes, I will,” he blurted out as he coiled back into the covers.

“You do say funny stuff when you wake up,” I chuckled.

“It can’t be morning yet,” he whined.

“Sorry Sunshine, but it’s breakfast time.”

He moaned and sat up, “It’s gonna take a quart of coffee to get me awake.”

I sat back on the bed beside him and leaned over and kissed his cheek.

His eyes fully opened as he looked at me, “What was that for?”

“Are you awake now?”

He blinked a couple times, “Yeah.”

“Good, let’s go have breakfast before Andy and Ty eat it all.”

He grinned and we left the room.

We were enjoying bacon and eggs when someone knocked at their door. I jumped hard.

Ryan’s hand immediately touched my arm, “It’s okay.”

Ty was already in motion toward the door when Ryan asked him to make sure he knew who it was before he opened it. That earned him a strange look.

“Who is it?” Ty asked.

“Candace, you idiot. Open the door.”

Now it was Ryan’s turn to jump. The front door opened and in walked a young woman about my age. She was shorter than me, maybe 5’6” with straight, sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, slim built, but she definitely had me beat when it came to bra size. I was a healthy c-cup, but she had to be a double-D.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had company,” she paused and then recognition hit her. “Ryan? Oh, my God. I don’t believe it!”

Ryan rose and met her half way of the living room as they gave each other a hug.

“What the heck are you doing back in Colorado Springs? It’s been, what? Five or six years? You look great.”

“Thanks. You, too. I can’t believe you’re still here? I thought your dad shipped to California?”

“He did and then he fell off a flight deck and broke his back. He’s okay, but the military gave him a medical discharge and we moved back here. Miss Naomi, why didn’t…”

That was when she looked around Ryan to the table and saw me. I was smiling, but I could see she immediately assumed I was someone significant to Ryan.

“Oh… Hi, I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was-”

“Candace, this is Leese. She and I are-”

“Good friends who flew in yesterday,” I finished for him. I got up and she met me part way to shake hands.

“Nice to meet you…” she let the words trail as she looked at me as if she knew me, “Did you grow up around here? You look so familiar to me.”

“No, I’m from Florida.”

“I swear I’ve seen you before,” she continued.

She was figuring out who I was even with the new hairdo.

“So, you grew up with these guys?” I said, hoping to get her to stop staring at me.

“Yeah, but Ryan of course was only here from like fifth grade to seventh, but he left quite an impression on all the girls with those pretty eyes of his. He was considered the hot ticket in middle school,” she laughed.

“Now I’m the hot ticket,” Ty spoke up flexing his bare chest.

“No, you’re pretty much still an idiot,” she stated, deflating him, “but you’re an idiot that I need at the moment. I came over because I need a ride to work; my car won’t start. I think the alternator is out on it again.”

“We can give you a ride,” I offered, remembering how terrible Ty drove yesterday.

“Sure,” Ryan added.

“I don’t want to impose,” she started to say when Ty frowned.

“You don’t mind ‘imposing’ on me!”

“That’s because riding with you isn’t imposing, it gives you another chance to figure out how to drive.”

I liked this girl; she could put those boys in their place and, more importantly was the reaction on Ryan’s face when he saw her.

“Come on,” I said touching Ryan’s arm and waking him from his daydream. I grabbed my purse and the three of us went out to the car.

“Pearly’s car? Did you buy this?” she was clearly impressed.

“Yeah, yesterday. But Leese actually-”

“Worked out the deal,” I finished for him. “But it’s Ryan’s car.”

Candace started to go into the back seat, but I told her to sit up front so she could show Ryan the way to where she worked.

Ryan’s brow furrowed as he watched me slip in the back seat.

I noticed that Ryan remembered Pearly’s instructions as he hit the gas once and then turned the key. I stayed quiet and let them talk as she pointed the way to the JC Penney’s in the Citadel Mall.

“So did you graduate high school?” Ryan asked.

“No, this is my senior year, but we go back after Labor Day. We were in the same grade. Did you graduate?”

“Not yet, I mean we will, but that depends on where we decide to stay.”

I was wishing he hadn’t said it that way because she became noticeably quiet.

“We are just friends, though. Nothing more,” I added from the backseat. “He’s been really great to help me get settled somewhere before he moves on with his life.” I got another nasty glance in the rearview mirror from him. “Hey, Candace,” I continued, “Do you know of any places around here for rent?”